Wet and dry optical connectors have been around for many years. However, while dry optical connectors have made significant improvements in both performance and cost; wet optical connectors have made comparably little progress. The tolerances needs for to ensure a quality fluid seal along with the precise placement need for a low loss optical connection has led to tolerance stack up issues making these type of connectors relatively large, expensive and still lacking the desired performance. By partially decoupling the position of the ferrules and the position of the outer shell this embodiment reduces manufacturing costs, while increasing performance and decreasing the body diameter.